Heading off to hunt camp anyone?

One person’s hunt camp could be as basic as a 4-man tent, while for someone else it might be a summer cottage transformed into a makeshift hunt camp when autumn arrives.

Other folks might be members of a private hunt club or an organized lodge, while some might even choose to go with an outfitter, rent a chalet or a small cabin. You could convert a fishing or trapping camp into a hunt camp in the fall and you know what, it doesn’t really matter.

Regardless of what four-walls make-up your hunt camp, tis the season to celebrate the sport we all know and love in your private little domain. Sharing the experience with friends and hunting companions only serve to enrich the experience.

The hunt camp experience is something only a true hunter has ever known and will ever really understand. Sorry to all animal rights people, environmentalists and other ‘non-hunters’ out there, you simply cannot relate and this post will mean absolutely nothing to you.

My Dad was up our hunt camp this week scouting for moose, as it is the first time in his almost 70 years of hunting he’ll be pursing moose with crossbow from our deer camp.

Of course I just had to know everything about the camp while he was there.

What did it smell like inside? Any mice around? How about fresh deer tracks in the way in, were there any of those? Did the deer eat the apples I put out on Labour Day? Anyone been around? What is the firewood situation like?

Yup, it is a time of year when many other things in our busy lives will take a backseat to this special place. We will dream about it at night and long for that glorious day when we first arrive.

After 32-years of this tradition I realize the hunt camp experience is over in the blink of an eye..so enjoy your time to the fullest and for goodness sake, let it all soak in. You just never know when it could be your last!

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Don’t get me started on hunting with my lab stories. My 13+ year old buddy doesn’t get around very well now but I have a hundred stories I could tell about his hunting skills. Funny thing was I didn’t have to teach him much of it if any, he pretty much had “it” and figured the rest out himself. I adopted him from a city dweller at 1, and he was in my house for 5 minutes when he barked to go out for a crap. His hunting talents would never have been discovered and he would likely be a fat, city, couch lab if we had not been lucky enough to meet. He is extrordinary and I tell him every day. Best of all he has been my best bud for over 12 years and the one all others will be measured against, but it’s unlikely there will ever be one like him again.
Okay, maybe just one story; one time when he was only 2 or so we were walking a cedar rail fenceline on a sunny, cool, fall afternoon; you outdoors people know the type of fall day I am talking about. The wind is perfect and he’s working only 10 yards ahead (he just always did that) when he comes to a perfect point. I mean a dead still, not a twitch, tail in the air, lacqured stiff into a C; the kinda point you wish you had a camera for. I honestly couldn’t believe it and wondered to myself could he really be on a bird? He just stayed there until I walked over but the bird flushed on the opposite side of the fence so no shot. He just looks at me like “dude, why didn’t you shoot it”! I may have not even taken the shot had it came out my side because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A lab that points? Where did he learn how to do that? The anti’s can say all they want about hunting and hunters, but I didn’t even fire a shot that day and I will never, ever, forget it.

What were we talking about now? The smells in a hunt camp after ham and bean night? This is truly a great time of the year to go to the woods.

I would like to thank everyone for the hunting dog stories..they allow me to live variously through you guys.

Growing and hunting across the river in QC, we were never been exposed to deer hunting with hounds, and to be completely honest, the whole idea is quite foreign to me.

The closest we ever got to hunting with dogs was being near those hunt gangs who pretended they were dogs…by barking during their chases/drives. Most of us blokes never hunted by barking, but we’ve sure heard enough of it in the woods over the years..hehe..I bet it’s a lot better with 4-legged dogs!

jeff, just imagine a cold frost filled morning and you have been on watch for about a hour or so. Your fingers begin to chill and your toes are starting to numb.. then all of a sudden you hear a bay of a hound .. you’re warm in side all of a sudden..

Man, I think some of the coldest times I’ve ever experienced were while being on watch for a long period of time. I can recall one time in particular back in 1984…we hunted this area we called the Green Mountains..man, it took almost 3 hours for the men to come out and I was perched up this big rock with the wind blowing right thru me!

Shivering like a leaf, I was instantly snapped back to reality with the sound of something tearing down the ridge straight at me. It was a beautiful 11-point buck(field-dressed 213)..don’t ask me how I even held the sights steady on him shaking as bad as I was. Somehow I managed to get the buck..and in 5 minutes I was warm again yet still shaking like a leaf. It was adrenaline this time.

A 17-year old boy with the biggest buck he’d ever seen!

Man, thank goodness for all hunting memories, not sure what Id do without them.

Outdoorsguy

Sidenote: Said buck was chased to me by the late great Ronnie Swail..one of the greatest hunters I ever knew..a man who has chased no less than 4 bucks to me over the years. Ronnie passed aways from Cancer 5 years ago yet his memory and legend will remain in our hunt camp forever….

Wouldn’t all of these stories, including the hints of greater ones, make for a great book? Maybe a few camp jokes and pranks sprinkled in there, lessons learned, tricks and camp-crafts, tool and arms maintenance…

An attempt to save the long-gun registry data in Ontario misfired Friday, when the Ontario Superior Court called an appeal by a Toronto women’s shelter “weak” and dismissed it.

The federal government is calling the ruling a victory.

“The will of Parliament and Canadians has been clear. We do not want any form of a wasteful and ineffective long gun registry,” Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in a statement.

Justice D.M. Brown refused to place an injunction on the government’s decision to destroy the information still being held in a computer database in Ottawa. The files include the names, addresses, phone numbers and registry numbers of all long-gun owners in Canada, dating back almost 20 years.

Canadian gun owners and firearms advocates are celebrating the decision.

“This is a rare victory for common sense in this entire battle,” Tony Bernardo, spokesman for the Canadian Shooting Sports Association told QMI Agency. “We are very optimistic that the Supreme Court will recognize that it was 10 short years ago that the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the regulation of firearms was a federal jurisdiction.”

On the other side, the gun-control lobby was upset with the Ontario ruling.

“This decision is a setback but we will continue to fight for sensible controls on rifles and shotguns,” wrote Wendy Cukier, president for the Coalition for Gun Control. “Outside of Quebec, rifles and shotguns are now completely untraceable.”

The Quebec Superior Court recently upheld that province’s injunction, saying the destruction of the data violated the Constitution and the spirit of federalism.

The federal long-gun registry was created by the Liberal government in 1995. The system was plagued with billions in cost overruns and it was largely loathed in rural and Western Canada, the base of the Conservative Party, which long vowed go get rid of it.

morning jeff and fellow hunters and outdoor enthusiasts was a wet weekend but jeff i have to thank the beavers that dammed up the pond where i deer hunt it is loaded with ducks mallards woodies teal even blacks the only problem no canoe some a- hole decided he liked what he saw and stole a really old canoe from me last year looking for a small flat bottom boat or a canoe to negotiate through the pond i live in almonte but i am hopefull i will find something soon by the way jeff i spoke to someone about a possible show and we are taking baby steps and will do what i can to start something will keep you posted

hi jeff tried to post a comment but it went to some dark place anyhow will keep you posted on a possible show i have met with a producer and will be doing something very soon ,bye the way do you or any of your readers know where i could find a flat bottom boat or a canoe cheap as my last boat was stolen right from under my blind chain cut. I guess it’s pretty bad when someone steals stuff like this thank fully i wasn’t there it could have gotten bad fast will keep you posted

i know the john woods boats are like a tank but light and most of them have good stability i feel like putting out a few bears traps around the next boat i lock up but one of my cohorts may step in one instead of a thief and i would hate to have to cut a friends foot off lol

gents, does anyone know of an area near Ottawa (on the ON side) where there’s a cow and a couple of calfs hanging around?

I had such a blast chasing moose with a bow this past weekend that I’m wanting to get out again. I know it’s tough to get near a calf, but we were super close this last adventure. If I can out someday for a day, I would be loving it.

We did manage to bag a 49″ bull. To make a long story short, the way we use our Rhinos and the way we hunt, put us in a position where we triangulated a bull (and a few other moose) into an area less than 200 yards apart. Our guy was charged 3 times, fired 3 arrows, missed 1, 2 found the vitals (1 at 8 yards after he was charged!!!) and the rest was history. Sadly, he doesn’t have a headcam, but i’m sure he’s buying one now! lol

Still hunting a bull moose from the ground. Doesn’t get much better than that!

And that’s just the 1st hunting expedition of the year, hence why I want to chase more moose around here if I can! lol

keebler says:
September 25, 2012 at 9:32 am
Quote:
gents, does anyone know of an area near Ottawa (on the ON side) where there’s a cow and a couple of calfs hanging around?

I had such a blast chasing moose with a bow this past weekend that I’m wanting to get out again. I know it’s tough to get near a calf, but we were super close this last adventure. If I can out someday for a day, I would be loving it.

We did manage to bag a 49″ bull. To make a long story short, the way we use our Rhinos and the way we hunt, put us in a position where we triangulated a bull (and a few other moose) into an area less than 200 yards apart. Our guy was charged 3 times, fired 3 arrows, missed 1, 2 found the vitals (1 at 8 yards after he was charged!!!) and the rest was history. Sadly, he doesn’t have a headcam, but i’m sure he’s buying one now! lol

Still hunting a bull moose from the ground. Doesn’t get much better than that!

And that’s just the 1st hunting expedition of the year, hence why I want to chase more moose around here if I can! lol

wow …way too much fun in one outing >Must do it again. Wish you had a cow tag in WMU41 to invite you to our hunt camp on the east side of Sudbury. We always cows and bulls but just use the cameras to shoot them. A calf was spotted not too long ago but hasn’t been seen for the last little bit…. thanks for the adrin rush. Congrats to you and your hunting group…. sounds like a great time…

Very exciting b/c we knew there moose just ahead of us. The leaves were flipped over and it had been raining yet the rain hadn’t knocked the leaves right again so they had just walked there minutes before.

I was about 150 yds at the most and same with my buddy. He heard the bull fall, but I was up a hill and it was windy so I didn’t. I would have seen him, but there was a slight curve in the bush along the creek bed.

It was just crazy. Someday, I’ll get to editing the footage. I managed to get a full headcam video of him explaining the hunt right after so it was a crazy adrenaline rushed explanation.

Another option is what I use – the drift innovation hd170. the go pro is a great headcam but for walking through the bush, it’s horrible due to its squareness. It sits way too high on top of the head or out too far along the head.

The drift is like the contour – longer but thin so it sits nice along the head. I’m looking at the new drift as it’s smaller. The weight can be heavy after a day of walking so the new model would be sweet.

But it’s fun reliving the hunt or just other memories from camp. Some folks might be against the idea, but I know our group enjoys the footage.

btw…anyone who listens to CHEZ 106 FM’s Doc & Woody Show – I’ll be on with the boys tomorrow(Thurs) am doing the annual Salute to Moose Season! It coincides with my Thurs SUN column which deals with the moose hunt.

lots of good stories and comments, that what the deer camp is all about, right?
serious question, my das and i built a camp up on 200 acers 3km fro the highway from scratch 20years ago.
that is we cut 3km of walking trail first year to our protential camp site and made a pole frame and covered with a blue tarp. between us we got one and yes draged it 3km out the walking trail, great year.

the next year we bought a 350 king quad, and cut the walking trail to fit the quad +5 quarerrow bridges, and cut the trees for a log cabin. two deer that year fantastic

3rd year we got walls and a floor, with a steel cable as a ridge pole and the same blue tarp for a roof and a quebec heater (wood stove), now we are at the ritz. 2 deer again.

4th year a buddy joined us and wow we got a truss and steel roof, 3 deer

this goes on for a few years but dad is 65 and the 3km trail is alot of work and hard to find guys that want to help with the basic chores of getting the camp ready for those two weeks, like fire wood, so we decided to log the property to put in a road, well after the logging we thought we made a mistake but as it turns out the benifit to driving to the frontg door was worth the sacrfice and 5 years latter it look mutch better and never missed a beet when it came to shooting deer. we now had 5 people in the camp.

basicall we never charged our 3 buddies much $200 for 2 week of deer hunt and share in meals equally worked well. and every one had the use of the property and camp to duck hunt or what ever all year round, just help with what needs to be done. well as soon as the work word comes out every one is too bussy until the hunt comes.

dad passed two years ago two budies still hunt, and my kids are starting to hunt as well, 12 and 14.
turns out i’m the one back every weekend doing everything but no dad.

so the question, our taxes are $300 and we pay the tax of two neibouring lots for huting right another 300.
so that 3 people during the week and with kids on the weekends. if everyone came back to help every other weekend to help and share in the meals i would be very happy if each two buddies would pay 300, my 300 goes towards normal supplies like propane, repair materials, gas etc… wahy more than 300 for the fall season.

what is a fair amount to ask your buddies to hunt for 2 weeks of deer hunting if they don’t help much? or should i look for new buddies and how much? aswell they have year round access the the property.

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About Jeff

Jeff Morrison is an avid outdoorsman, a member of the Outdoor Writers of Canada and former Ottawa Sun Outdoors columnist.

Over the past 10 years, Jeff has contributed to several outdoor publications and websites, and has just written his first book – Weird Facts about Fishing.

A consummate sportsman and conservationist, Jeff enjoys hunting, fishing and camping. In The Outdoors Guy, Jeff picks up where he left off with the Sun column, and encourages local outdoor enthusiasts to share their thoughts.